• Events
• Photo Sales
• Posters and Reprints
• Press Pass Card
• Reader Rewards e-Newsletter
• Newspaper in Education
• MyDFWstore.com

Posted on Thu, Apr. 24, 2008

Almost all the Mavs share in blame game

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- What a glorious day Wednesday turned into for lovers of strip-club melees and glaring idiots, bringing news that a certain NFL rat officially is going to be making Big D his home.

Please extend a warm welcome to Pacman.

I'm sure he'll fit in well with the dog of a basketball team currently playing at AAC. He can teach them the finer points of hush money.

And what Dallas Maverick would not be willing to pay big dollars to shut a lot of critics up at the moment? Dog-butted, gutless, non-competitive, losers -- what haven't they been called in the aftermath of New Orleans and CP3 running roughshod over them for six quarters? So I come this morning not to dog-pile.

It was ugly. It is over.

Friday brings an opportunity to prove the problem was geographical, not apocalyptical. And hope exists for Game 3 considering that no matter how flawed this Mavs team has been this season, statistically, they find a way to win at AAC. The Hornets? Not so much. Not ever actually.

Mostly, though, I find myself thinking: Y'all are better than this.

And everybody is included in this y'all except for The Big German and Brandon Bass. Dirk has been good, especially considering he's playing on a wonky ankle and Bass has added more than expected.

Everybody else? You stink.

This includes the coach formerly known as Coach of the Year and Mr. 1b and the guard who was paid the big, big bucks after the Finals trip and, of course, the point guard who was brought in to bring mental toughness and a chance at a championship.

All of them are better than this. Or they are paid to be.

Let's start with Avery because he is the guy everybody seemingly wants to fire. www.fireavery.com was humming Wednesday as was much of the blogosphere.

Interestingly, neither blogmaverick nor Mark Cuban has jumped into the argument with a heartfelt defense of Avery. He's not souring on his coach, is he?

This is something to watch, especially if this series stays on its present course. A divorce might be coming, by mutual agreement.

And while it is easy to pile on and say "Fire Avery," this series has to be allowed to play out before anybody calls for anything. My gut reaction is do not fire Avery, but it is a fair point. He is a good coach, but the reality is that he's getting outcoached in this series.

And that makes three in a row.

And there is no getting around the Mavs being 2-10 in their past 12 playoff games.

"I take full responsibility about everything and that's my job, but at the same time, if we have a game plan, we have to have a high level of concentration and we have to have a high of physicality, which I haven't seen yet," Avery said Wednesday.

The whole taking responsibility thing just sounds more sincere if not followed by a "but ..." and also if what you claim to be responsible for are not things that, of course, you are not responsible for, such as free throws and layups and defending.

"It's not the players, it's me," drips of sarcasm.

Of course, he is right. Dirk's friends can feel free to show up and help any day now. Starting with Josh Howard.

He was supposed to be 1b to Dirk's 1a.

What he has been is underwhelming almost since Dirk's return and certainly nothing like the Pippen the Mavs need him to be. I have to be careful. Josh is touchy about criticism. He felt slighted by people saying he was not playing well when he was in that ugly little tailspin after the trade deadline.

Give the man a pass. He used to drive to the basket. He used to be a finisher. He used to slash. He used to be aggressive. And, really, what is up with everybody expecting him to show up in the fourth quarter? Aren't the first three quarters enough for you people?

And Avery thought he had cornered the market on sarcasm.

Kidd jumped to Josh's defense, noting "we have to get him some easy looks, some easy baskets to get him going because we're going to need him if we're going to win this series. We've got to get him being him, being able to slash, knocking down the open shot, get into the open court and be aggressive."

Who is this we? This is why you are here.

The Mavs traded for Kidd because, as they told us repeatedly after the deal, they were not going anywhere with Devin Harris. They needed somebody with mental toughness, a playmaker, a guy capable of getting everybody involved.

I was on record not liking the deal. But not once did I envision a free fall this immediate and this far. The Mavs are in real danger of not getting out of the first round again. If they play like they did in New Orleans, they might not win a game.

Swept. By New Orleans.

That is unacceptable and undoubtedly will force Cuban to ask: Are the Mavs really better than this? Or is this what they are?

And therein lies the beauty of Pacman's arrival.

He is just-in-case insurance, if the Mavs lose. With the rat now officially in Dallas, they are guaranteed not to be the most embarrassing part of the local jocko sphere.

Game 3: Hornets at Mavericks 7 p.m. Friday, KTXA/21, ESPN